Navigating Knowledge: My Journey from Panama to the Library of Congress

This is a guest post by Isaac Carranza, a Historical Memory Specialist for the Panama Canal. Isaac has worked for 14 years at the Panama Canal, and his department oversees managing a library specializing in the Panama Canal, an archive center, and two museums. 

In 2023, while I was going through the application process for the opportunity to be part of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, one interviewer asked me, “Why do you want to be part of this Fulbright scholarship program?” My answer was immediate: “I want to do an internship at the Library of Congress.” The reason, at least to me, was obvious. I have worked for the last 10 years at the Panama Canal Library in Panama, and, while I am aware that my library has an extensive and detailed catalog of documents related to the Panama Canal, I often have to tell researchers, “That document you are looking for is probably in the Library of Congress.”

The Library of Congress—the largest library in the world, and the publisher of the Subject Headings and the Handbook of Latin American Studies—has a large number of documents that are part of the history of the Panama Canal.

A year and a half later, I had the opportunity to explore the collections there. Although it lasted only two weeks, I had the opportunity to track down and evaluate materials that were originally in the Panama Collection of the Canal Zone Library-Museum in Panama, and that were brought to the United States in 1978 after the signing of the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaty which returned the Canal to Panama.

Seeing these documents firsthand helped me understand and challenge previous conceptions I had about the history of the Panama Canal. It was a dream come true.

The following is a description of the top five documents I found most interesting in my quest to fill gaps in the history of the Panama Canal.

1. Notice to the Jamaican Labourers, 1898

The history of the construction of the Panama Canal can be divided into two major periods: the French (1879-1899) and the American (1904-1914) periods. During the French period, a large number of international laborers were brought to Panama, especially from Jamaica. Many of these Jamaican workers never returned home. Historians are well aware of the enormous efforts of the British Consulate in Panama to repatriate these workers who had made Panama their new home, but apart from some press clippings and memoranda, I have never had the opportunity to observe a large-scale communication tool aimed at persuading the Jamaicans to return to their homeland. These efforts proved largely futile, and Jamaica suffered significant economic and demographic damage. Given this context, I was surprised to find an oversized poster, which looked brand new, issuing an ultimatum for many of these workers to return to Jamaica. Years later, when the United States began transporting workers from the Antilles, the Jamaican government imposed a ban on its men migrating to Panama again.

2. Compagnie universelle du canal de Panama. Canal plans, circa 1899

The Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocéanique de Panama, established in 1879 and led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, was tasked with building the Panama Canal until 1889, when it was declared bankrupt. The company’s failure was largely due to the devastating toll of yellow fever and malaria among workers, as well as de Lesseps’s insistence on constructing a sea-level canal—similar to the Suez Canal he had previously helped complete—despite the vastly different geographic and climatic conditions of Panama.

However, even from the earliest stages of construction, the idea of building a lock-based canal was also under consideration.

By 1894, a new French entity, the Compagnie Nouvelle de Canal de Panama, was formed with the goal of developing a more feasible plan. On November 16, 1898, the company presented its revised proposal.

Many aspects of this plan closely resembled the canal that the Americans would eventually complete in 1914. It envisioned a lock-based canal with two high-elevation artificial lakes to lift ships and carry them across the Continental Divide. The proposed locks would be built in sets, each measuring 738 feet in length and approximately 30 feet in depth, with parallel chambers measuring 82 feet and 59 feet in width, respectively. In total, eight sets of locks were planned: two at Bohío Soldado and two at Obispo on the Atlantic side; one at Paraíso, two at Pedro Miguel, and one at Miraflores on the Pacific side. The plan also called for damming the Chagres River at Bohío and Alhajuela to create artificial lakes that would help manage floods and generate electricity.

Perhaps the greatest surprise during my research at the Library of Congress was discovering the original documents detailing the development of this plan. Dossier after dossier revealed intricate designs for locks at iconic locations in my country, outlined land and infrastructure values, and specified the labor required for the massive undertaking. Transitioning from merely reading or hearing about this historical project to handling the original, vividly colored and remarkably preserved documents was a deeply enriching experience.

3. De Sabla family documents. 1814-1932

For a long time, the De Sabla surname in my library had been linked exclusively to the world of photography. One of the most detailed collections of life in Panama during the French construction of the Panama Canal was created by Eugene De Sabla. That, however, was all. I had never imagined the extensive and complex history of the involvement of this cosmopolitan family in the fortunes of my country over more than a hundred years.

Through the documents I found in the Library of Congress, I learned that a member of this French family first settled in Panama in the 1840s, having come from Guadeloupe, a French Caribbean colony. The family established a bakery and owned a sizable property known as Bernardino in what is now the district of Arraiján in modern Panama. Over time, they became involved in various business ventures, including the Panama Railroad Company, Panama Water Works, canal projects, a telegraph company, and mining operations. In 1932, the family’s heirs—who were now U.S. citizens—filed a lawsuit against the Panamanian government for damages to their property. The majority of the De Sabla family’s documents consist of legal records and related materials from the case United States ex rel. De Sabla v. Panama.

4. Competition for the best true stories of life and work on the Isthmus of Panama during construction of the Panama Canal, 1963-1964

The workers who came to build the Panama Canal came from all around the world, but especially from the West Indies. This wave of immigration transformed and enriched Panama’s demographic and cultural landscape. However, since most of these laborers were blue-collar workers, their voices and testimonies were largely lost to history.

In 1963, as the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal approached, a group called the Isthmian Historical Society launched an initiative to preserve some of those lost voices. They organized a contest to collect personal stories and firsthand accounts from non-U.S. citizens who had lived through the Canal’s construction. The contest was announced through mail, through notices placed in food packages distributed to disability relief recipients, and in ads in newspapers across Panama and the Caribbean.

The response was overwhelming, and the contest proved to be a great success. For decades, copies of the letters collected have served as valuable resources for researchers, not only in my own library in Panama, but also in institutions in the United States, such as the George A. Smathers Libraries and the Digital Library of the Caribbean at the University of Florida.

It was a moving experience to discover the original handwritten letters from this contest preserved in the Library of Congress. To see their handwriting styles, their unique slang, and even their illustrations was deeply touching.

It is important to highlight the role of Mrs. Ruth C. Stuhl, a former librarian at the Panama Canal Library, who was one of the principal organizers of this contest. Her legacy endures in our institution. The letters she helped gather have continued to serve as primary sources for research, have inspired documentaries, and have even provided the foundation for novels about the construction of the Panama Canal.

5. Thomas Crystal Dissertation (1967-1968)

Relations between Panama and the United States have been complex from the very beginning. While it is true that the United States supported Panama’s separation from Colombia on November 3, 1903, just two weeks after gaining independence, the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty was signed. This treaty granted the United States the right to build an interoceanic canal, but it also gave the U.S. control over a Canal Zone—an area extending five miles on either side of the canal route, in perpetuity. Overnight, this young Central American nation found itself divided by a foreign-controlled territory running through its heart.

Within the Canal Zone, life was markedly different from the rest of Panama. A different language was spoken, U.S. laws were enforced, and its residents followed different customs. American military bases dotted the area, and the federal presence was strong, ensuring that the Zone’s inhabitants had access to a wide array of amenities. From its inception, however, the Canal Zone was also a site of systemic discrimination. Non-American workers were paid less, and segregation based on skin color was legally enforced.

This situation persisted for decades. By the 1960s, tensions had reached a boiling point. On January 9, 1964, Panamanians protested against the Canal Zone and the discrimination they faced. That day, 22 Panamanians were killed by Canal Zone security forces. The tragedy marked the beginning of a long and determined struggle for full sovereignty over all Panamanian territory—a struggle that finally culminated on December 31, 1999, when the Panama Canal was officially handed over to Panama.

Many books have been written analyzing the events of January 9, 1964, but one unexpected discovery during my time at the Library of Congress stood out: the draft of a doctoral thesis in history from Stanford University titled “Panama, the United States, and the Canal: 1954–1964,” written by Thomas L. Crystal, a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. Colonel Crystal, who served as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, for the XIX Army Corps in 1944 and had lived in the Canal Zone, set out to “write a definitive account of those ten turbulent years in an objective, judicious, and scholarly manner so that its accuracy and comprehensiveness will serve as a reference for any student of that period.”

The archive included letters exchanged with Canal Zone library staff from 1967–1968, revealing a remarkable camaraderie and intellectual exchange. Several chapter drafts were annotated with feedback and critique from the librarians. Sadly, the thesis was never completed. Colonel Crystal passed away in 1971 before he could finish what might have been a historical resource aimed at fostering understanding between two nations once on opposite sides of a deep divide.

Thankfully, with time, dialogue prevailed. The United States and Panama were eventually able to sit down, negotiate, and bring this chapter of conflict to a close.

An Endless Investigation

The information housed in the Library of Congress about Panama and its canal is vast and layered. With each passing day, I uncovered more, yet it always felt like I was only scratching the surface—exploring the tip of an iceberg adrift in a vast sea of knowledge. My time there left me with one overwhelming thought: I must return and continue the search.

Learn more

Explore the collections related to the Panama Canal found in

• the Manuscript Division,
• the Geography and Maps Division,
• Chronicling America, and
• the Prints and Photographs division
  • Latin American and Caribbean Photographs research guide

To find information about Panama in general, check out the Panama Country Guide from the Hispanic Reading Room